Nintendo's First 2016 Direct Won't Be About The NX Or Zelda

Paul Tassi
, ContributorNews and opinion about video games, technology and the internetOpinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Nintendo has announced their first Direct of 2016, the last one being in November of last year. And despite claims that once 2016 hit, we would start hearing more about both the Wii U’s Legend of Zelda game, and the company’s next console, the NX, that’s not what’s being discussed on February 26th.

Rather, the Direct will be only about Pokémon, given that the 20th anniversary of the series is just a day later on the 27th. It will be five minutes long.

Sigh.

Nintendo hasn’t yet said what Poké-specific things will be discussed, but fair guesses include Pokken Tournament, Detective Pikachu and/or Pokémon Go, though in five minutes, we’ll be lucky to squeeze in two trailers and a release date.

Nintendo has been adamant about this being the “Year of Pokémon,” which I guess I can understand given that it’s the 20th anniversary and all. But The Legend of Zelda just celebrated its 30th anniversary last week, and we did not hear a peep about the new game, despite the fact that it would have been the perfect time to start spilling the beans.

Nintendo’s behavior about both the new Zelda game and the NX has been strange in 2016, namely that despite promising new information, we haven’t heard a thing. And now, with this first Direct of the year, two months in, it’s a five minute show about Pokémon.

These two statements seem somewhat contradictory, as why would you release one of your biggest games of the console generation right as you about to kill said console? The only answer is yet another cross-platform release, which could be delaying the already-delayed Zelda even further. Or the NX is pushed to 2017, which would give a Wii U Zelda a year or so to breathe.

And the deeper we wade into 2016, the more a release of the NX by the end of the year seems like a strange notion. Outside of announcing the name of the system (which may not even be the final name) we have had no actual “reveal” of the console. And I just can’t think of a situation where a console officially debuted in spring or summer for the first time, and was out on shelves just a few months later by fall. Despite everyone saying otherwise, if we have to wait even a month or two more for NX information, I’m going to be convinced the NX release won't happen until 2017.

This is why all this “Year of Pokémon” stuff seems so strange to me. Outside the fact that there isn’t even a new full handheld Pokémon title coming (nor a big console RPG, of course), this seems like this should be the year of, I don’t know, launching a new console. The NX might turn out to be the cornerstone of Nintendo’s very survival in the industry, after the lackluster lifespan of the Wii U. But right now, it’s like they’re trying to murder any semblance of buzz or hype around the system with absolute silence.

The words “NX” first entered the video game lexicon almost exactly a year ago, last March, when Nintendo was trying to convince investors it wasn’t getting out of the hardware game. After that, a promise they wouldn’t even mention it until 2016, and now in 2016, not even a hint of new information.

So, cool. I like Pokémon. I want a fun year of Pokémon stuff. But seriously Nintendo, it’s time to start opening up about the NX and The Legend of Zelda.